Google Instant – How It Works

Google Instant Search
Google announced a new development in its search technology called Google Instant.

What Is Google Instant

So what is Google Instant?

Well it’s a new interface “that creates an interactive search experience for users” according to Dan Friedman, a member of the Google Inside Adwords team.

It works by displaying in real time search results as you are typing your query. It is predicting what you are searching from the letter sequence of your word.

So as you type “flow” you’ll see “ers”in light gray predicting the word flowers and the search results and ads will display in the Search page dynamically in real time.

If this isn’t what you are looking for and you continue to type it will go on predicting what it thinks you are looking for.

So in their example, flow becomes flowc or flowchart and the search results and ad display accordingly.

Benefits

Here are some benefits according to Google.

immediate feedback

more refined searches

faster more relevant results

relevant organic results

relevant ads

Features

An important concept here is that of predictive search. It combines real time and interaction with the user by “predicting the query as it is being typed” and “instantly showing updated results”.

The expectation is “increased user engagement” not only with the organic search results but also with the sponsored ads as well.

Impressions

An important element of Google Instant is how impressions are counted.

They are counted “if a user takes an action to choose a query”.

What does that mean?

Well it can mean these things according to Google.

the user presses the Enter key

the user clicks the search button

the user clicks on the results page

the user stops typing for three or more seconds

All of these actions will actuate a search result and create an impression.

For an advertiser and affiliate marketer working in PPC, this new development in search means a change in impression count with consequences yet to be measured in your campaign conversion rate.

The word from Google is that “Google Instant may ultimately improve the quality of your clicks since it helps users type queries that more directly connect them with the answers they need”.

Roll Out

Google instant is rolling out to users in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Russia on Google domains. And you need to use the latest browsers (Chrome v5/6, Firefox v3, Safari v5, for Mac and Internet Explorer v8). You can only access Google Instant if you are signed into a Google account.